Praise for
AMANDA STEVENS
“Breathless, chilling and unforgettable. When you crack open an Amanda Stevens book, prepare to be thrilled.”
—USA TODAY bestselling author Patricia Kay
“Once again Ms. Stevens blends just the right amount of suspense, conflict, love and hope.”
—Romantic Times on The Tempted
“Amanda Stevens pens a masterfully suspenseful tale with great characters readers will love, hot passion and nail-biting intrigue.”
—Romantic Times on His Mysterious Ways
AMANDA STEVENS
The author of over thirty novels, Amanda Stevens is the recipient of Career Achievement awards in both Romantic Mystery and Romantic Suspense from Romantic Times magazine. She has been nominated for numerous Reviewers’ Choice awards and has been a RITA® Award finalist in the Romantic Suspense category. She resides in Houston, Texas.
Just Past Midnight
Amanda Stevens
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
EPILOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
Allentown, Texas
IT WAS JUST PAST MIDNIGHT. Danielle Williams lay wide awake, watching the distant flicker of lightning outside her window as the minutes ticked away on her bedside clock. If she didn’t leave soon, she’d never make it back before the storm hit.
But the delay couldn’t be helped. Her parents had waited up for her brother, Nathan, who’d promised to be in hours ago for a long, heart-to-heart about his future. And then when he’d finally dragged himself home, he’d been drinking. The ensuing confrontation had ended as it always did, with her father in a rant, her mother in tears, and her brother moody and defiant as he stomped up the stairs and slammed the door to his room.
All was finally quiet now, except for the occasional creak and groan as the old farmhouse settled. Nathan’s bedroom was just across the hall. He’d probably be up for hours, but Dani knew that he’d have his headphones on and wouldn’t hear a thing when she slipped out. He didn’t even acknowledge their mother’s knock when she came upstairs a few minutes later to make the first overture. Nathan ignored her, as usual, and after a slight hesitation, the soft knock sounded on Dani’s door.
She ignored it, too, which wasn’t like her. Normally, she tried to play the role of peacemaker in the family. Tried to provide a calm spot in the storm where her mother could come to seek refuge from her husband’s temper and her son’s downward spiral. Tonight, though, Dani had needs of her own, and so she pretended to sleep even when her mother called out her name.
At the plaintive note in her mother’s voice, guilt tore at Dani, but she remained steadfast. Tonight was just too important. She couldn’t get sidetracked with family issues.
Her stomach in knots, she kept her eyes closed and her breathing even until she heard her mother’s footsteps going back down the stairs. She waited until her parents’ voices faded behind their closed door. Then, throwing off the covers, she rose, fully dressed, to steal across the room to the window.
Climbing onto the wood-shingle roof, she paused to gain her balance before she crept to the edge. Then she lowered herself to the top of the fence, and from there she dropped six feet to the ground, landing on her feet with a soft thud.
She’d performed that same maneuver countless times, but never after dark and never to slip out of the house without her parents’ knowledge or permission. Nathan did. Or he used to. Now he just came and went as he pleased, did as he pleased, and their father’s threats of kicking him out of the house didn’t seem to faze him. Maybe because he knew that’s all they were—threats. Their mother, usually so submissive and conciliatory, wouldn’t stand for anything more. She had a blind spot when it came to Nathan.
Dani didn’t understand what had happened to her brother. At nineteen, he was two years older than she, and someone she’d looked up to—until six months ago when he’d dropped out of college without warning. He’d come back home a changed person—in appearance and personality. He’d let his hair grow, wore unkempt clothing, and played music in his room twenty-four hours a day—obscure bands that Dani hadn’t heard of.
He was so different from the brother she’d said goodbye to six months ago that it was like having a stranger in the house. He refused to look for a job, refused to go back to school, refused to even talk about his future. He spent his days sleeping, his nights partying—and the drinking…well, Dani suspected that was the least of his vices.
She missed the old Nathan. Ever since her parents adopted him ten years ago, he’d been the doting, protective older brother. Despite the friction that had always existed between him and their father, Nathan had been someone Dani could count on, confide in. Now she couldn’t even tell him about…tonight.
Nowadays, he was surly and morose and angry to the point of violence. His rage scared Dani because it seemed to be directed at her. She didn’t understand that, either. She didn’t understand what she’d done to make him hate her so. She didn’t understand what was happening to her family.
Maybe that was why the letters were so important to her.
The letters…from her secret admirer.
At the very thought of them, Dani shivered in nervous anticipation. The letters had started coming six months ago, just after Nathan moved back home. Just after the once peaceful household had erupted in turmoil. Dani sometimes wondered if that was the sender’s intent: to give her something to cling to—just as she tried to do with her mother—when her whole world seemed to be falling apart.
And the letters did help. They provided a little whimsy in an otherwise turbulent existence. Dani would find them in the most unexpected places. Slipped inside her favorite book at the library or propped beneath the old elm tree down by the lake where she sometimes went to study.
The mysterious missives were like something she